I don’t often have religious moments and in truth they’re almost exclusively related to the ingestion of food. When I crunched my way into my first slice of this gorgeous crostini with ricotta and salsa verde I found myself muttering “Lordy be still my heart. That Bill Granger is a genius!” Of course since I was crunching away on the crunchiest sourdough (Brasserie Bread’s Quinoa loaf) it came out more looking like a SBS movie subtitle.
Whilst I’ve eaten salsa verde before, this was my first time making it. I’m probably one of the few people on earth that doesn’t really like tomato salsa so I never really ventured into making salsa verde. However I am now a convert. The salsa verde is a gorgeous, fresh tasting accompaniment which reminds me a little of tabouli in its freshness but with salt from the capers and anchovies. You may notice that there are only two slices on the plate. That is because when I made it, some very hungry people couldn’t hold back and proceeded to crunch on them while I was trying to get the photographs together. Some people! 
If ever you’re a fan of fresh, delicious and healthy flavours (and who isn’t?), I urge you to make this simple salsa verde. I have the crumb stained smiling faces of everyone in front of me as proof although I should probably warn that you most certainly risk a parsley in the teeth situation. And thankfully, that’s the only price to pay for such deliciousness.
So tell me Dear Reader, what dish or food has given you a religious moment? A perfect macaron? A pretty cupcake? A plate of soft, juicy ribs?
Pssst! In some exciting news, I will be a guest on Radio 89.7FM’s Food in Focus show this Saturday the 20th of June at 4pm. Tune in for my very first live discussion which is both exciting and scary!
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June 18, 2009
by Not Quite Nigella
I was in my pajamas and my carrots were old.
This is not the way I like to start any post admittedly but it’s the brutal truth. It was a Sunday morning and it was cold. I was awoken by the loudspeaker from the Balmoral Burn charity run nearby and I wasn’t in a great mood. And because I had woken so early I had an excess of time and my first instinct was to cook. I needed to make a soup for my husband’s lunch that coming week and the carrots I had in the fridge were starting to look a little less appealing. They weren’t awful but they lost that smooth bright orange coat that they had only a couple of days before.
A friend and I were discussing the inevitable Winter weight gain. Well lamenting it was more like it. Stews, pastas and roasts are de rigeur whereas salads and sorbets are out. One way to try and counteract it is with this soup which is very low in fat but full of flavour. Other benefits are of course that it can be made vegetarian and is very inexpensive to make so there’s no reason not to try a bit of detoxing. If only for a meal or two.
Tell me Dear Reader, what are your tactics to avoid Winter weight gain or weight gain in general? Or do you surrender to Winter and come Summer take action?
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June 14, 2009
by Not Quite Nigella
I remember the first time I heard of muffins for breakfast. I wasn’t fooled, I knew it was a way for people to acceptably eat cake for breakfast and it’s a notion that I still eschew to this day. I can eat pancakes or other sweet things but I draw the line at eating cakes aka muffins for breakfast. Morning tea and afternoon tea is fine but I feel that it’s too much for breakfast. To me, it’s a little like buying a Snuggie. That signals the beginning of the end, giving up if you will. Apologies to all Snuggie owners, but you need to know that it looks like a cult outfit
I saw this on Barbara’s blog for her Daring Bakers entry. Her fruit version didn’t quite work out to plan and determined, she awoke the next morning to give this version a go – an attitude I fully understand. The strudel itself is delicious, like a Quiche Lorraine. I knew that I’d love this and with the long weekend coming up I wanted to make this for a brunch. I’m not crazy enough to suggest you get up at 7am to make this. Serving this around 11am seems like a more normal time. And no Snuggies involved I promise
Tell me Dear Reader, what’s your favourite Long Weekend brunch meal? Pancakes? Scrambled eggs? Eggs Benedict? Or something more exciting altogether?
P.S. If you haven’t had a chance to do so, I’d be ever so pleased if you could fill in the Not Quite Nigella survey. There’s a chance to win 1 of 3 Nigella Lawson aprons! 
Link here.
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June 8, 2009
by Not Quite Nigella
“Chee Chong what?” you may ask. But have a closer look at these babies. You’ve probably seen these proffered from stainless steel trolleys driven by determined Yum Cha trolley ladies that either drive the trolleys right past you ignoring you or stop and interrupt you when you clearly have enough on your table already and are busy mid conversation. I confess years ago a friend of mine and I had a fantasy about being Yum Cha trolley ladies for a day just to see what it was like. We wanted to see whether driving trolleys in a packed Chinese restaurant, maneuvering around tight spaces and being gridlocked at random, inopportune times gave you a very special version of road rage and made you resultantly dismissive and cranky as most of them seem to be, or whether it was an innate personality thing.
My Mother actually said that making these rolls were hard as they sometimes worked but sometimes didn’t but let me assure you that between the two of us, through trial and error one afternoon, we managed to find a foolproof way to make them quickly and easily. Usually the mix is made and stands for an hour and they then need to be cooked in a steamer. This version however produces a deliciously soft but easy version using a microwave with no standing time and only 2 minutes cooking on high. They key of course is in the rolling. This is best achieved if they are allowed to rest for 1 minute to firm up slightly and of course become cooler to the touch.
You can use prawns or whatever filling you like. Traditional fillings range from beef, chicken, pork sausage (in Vietnamese cuisine) and vegetables and it is very versatile. My husband gobbled these down in no time with very little urging. I adore these too and am a little ashamed at how many I can eat in one sitting (ok I’ll confess, I can eat 8 in one go easily).
Tell me Dear Reader, what is your mum’s favourite recipe? The one that lures you home?
P.S. If you haven’t had a chance to do so, I’d be ever so pleased if you could fill in the Not Quite Nigella survey. There’s a chance to win 1 of 3 Nigella Lawson aprons! 
Link here.
And if your mum’s or Nanna’s recipes are just so fantastic you want to share them with the world, click here to see our Secret Nanna recipe book project!
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June 5, 2009
by Not Quite Nigella
This recipe is an effort to balance what is my seemingly never ending sweet tooth with something savoury. Readers of my blog will assume that due to the number of sweets that I make, that I have an achingly sweet tooth. Not so, really. I don’t eat sweets that often unless they are exceptional (Zumbo, Laduree or Herme) but my natural instinct is to go for savoury. Cakes and sweets are awfully pretty to look at and if you’ve read my About page, you’ll see that I think that they belong in an Art Gallery (true, look at Zumbo’s creations). But savoury is what I crave.
I have a deep seeded fear of deep frying. I burnt my arm badly when I was cooking as a teenager and ever since then I’ve been afraid of it. But things such a Briouats are wonderful because they allow you to have the buttery crispness of deep frying whilst cooking them in the oven. I shall investigate a similar way to do Spring rolls in the same manner although I am not a big Spring Roll fan.
I based these on the delicious Etli Borek pastries that we tried from Ottoman Cuisine at the Taste of Sydney event. The reason why I remember the name so clearly is that the man behind the counter made us all recite the name after him, thereby drumming it into our memories. Sure he was a bit odd, firstly telling us that it was snake but the trick worked. They are earth shatteringly crisp and buttery and serving them scattered with Pomegranate seeds, minted yogurt and sweet chili sauce is ideal. “Ras El Hanout” roughly translated to “Top of the Shop” whereby a spice store would do their own blend of the best spices. No two shops’ Ras El Hanout is exactly the same and I used Herbies Ras El Hanout which was gifted to us at the Allrecipes dinner, which contains a Moroccan blend of 23 spices including saffron. I upped the quantity to what was recommended as I felt it really enhanced the flavour and was over the moon with the flavour. I made these on a rainy night when the sky was dark even at 3pm and by the time I got these on the table 45 minutes after starting, it was pitch dark outside so I hope you’ll forgive the photography.
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May 18, 2009
by Not Quite Nigella
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